A wife to a former Ndia Constituency Development Fund Manager Patrick Njiru Gitonga has been arraigned in court charged with killing her husband.
Gitonga was brutally killed on May 29, 2018 at VI village, Murinduko Ward, Kirinyaga County as he slept in his house.
A nephew to the deceased Leonard Kithinji yesterday told the court that he saw the beheaded body of his kin lying naked in a pool of blood as they entered his house with some police officers.
Kithinji also shocked the court when he testified how he found the wife to Patrick Njiru Gitonga standing stark naked and loosely tied to a palm tree within the family home.
89 year old mother to the deceased Wanguru Zakaria assisted in court where she was the second witness to the murder case.
Pics by Irungu Mwangi
The deceased’s wife Cecily Maitha, 45, and a former secondary teacher has been charged with the murder of her husband, an offence she has since denied.
Kithinji told a Kerugoya court that Maitha, even after being untied, remained seated outside the house and did not appear as though anything horrific had happened.
The witness said he learnt through a phone call from another relative that Gitonga’s home had been raided by some gangsters.
“It is one of our farm hand Murimi who called me from where I worked at Runyenjes town as a manager for Gitonga chain of Clubs to inform me that there was trouble at Gitonga’s home,” Kithinji told the court.
He said upon receiving the news, he immediately hired a taxi and rushed to his home at about 11 pm where his arrival coincided with that of some police officers.
He said there was no burglary reported while all the doors were secure as was the main gate while only Maitha was present in the compound.
The mother to the deceased, Wanguru Zakaria, 89, fainted and collapsed moments after testifying and had to be rushed to hospital by her relatives.
It emerged she is diabetic and had stayed for long hours within the court waiting for her turn to testify without a meal as required.
89 year old mother to the deceased follow proceedings during a court session.
Earlier on, Wanguru told the court that her son had introduced to her Charity Wanjiku (Mama Amani) as his second wife in front of Maitha when they visited her Mukuuri rural home in Embu County during a family get together.
The mother would however not tell if the child (Amani) has been sired by her son or if Wanjiku had been married to another man prior to that.
She said upon introduction of the second wife by her son, Maitha while holding some water with her palm told her she would use the same hand to look for money and kill her husband.
The hearing will proceed on May 21 2020 with Maitha released on a Sh5 million bond two sureties of Sh2 million each.
Kerugoya Judge Lucy Gitari is presiding over the case with the Assistant Director of Prosecutions Fredrick Ashimoli as the lead prosecutor.
Cases of wives charged with killing their husband in the area are on the increase with a similar case involving Ladia Wakuthii who is facing such a charge over the murder of her millionaire husband Francis Mbogo (Alias Kasarani) last year.
Psychiatrists are still trying to establish why this is happening with alternating incidents where husbands have also been charged with ending the lives of their loved ones
By Irungu Mwangi
